After touring a potential client’s penthouse loft in SoHo to discuss bringing it on the market in late 2019, Steve Gold, celebrity real estate agent and star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York, eventually cut to the chase. “As I left, I ended up saying, ‘I’m happy to sell it for you, but I’ll also buy it from you,’” he recalls.
The would-be client, as it turned out, was New York City gallerist Sean Kelly, who’d lived in the top-floor property for over two decades. “My girlfriend, Luiza, and I were pregnant with our daughter, Rose, and I was living in a really cool development in Chelsea, but had been thinking about getting a bigger space,” says Gold. “I see a lot of places—all the time—and this had incredible bones and proportions, and I saw the potential.” As penthouse lofts stack up, this particular property, clocking in at around 3,400 square feet, has three exposures instead of the usual two, including a nearly 50-foot wall with south-facing windows overlooking the quaint cobblestones below.
Enlisting the help of his longtime friend and frequent collaborator, interior designer Samuel Amoia, the pair completely transformed the energy and flow of the expansive, well-lit space. “Steve has a very modernist aesthetic,” explains Amoia. “He wanted that to translate into the space without sacrificing all the great things about having a [SoHo] loft—high ceilings, exposed beams, and incredible windows.”—David Nash
Michael Tomei was beaming when he logged on for our interview from his apartment in New York City. His genius for infusing modern interiors with furnishings with rich patina is evident in his meticulously-designed, 2,100-square-foot, two-bedroom loft that he shares with his partner, Peter, and a rescue dog named Huxley.
Gut renovating the space in a century-old warehouse building in Manhattan’s NoHo district signaled a major gear-shift for Tomei, who used to conceptualize store displays and fashion shows for brands like Calvin Klein, Balenciaga, and Lanvin. Opening Michael Vincent Design in 2019 allowed him to devote his energy to rescuing old buildings and time-worn furniture, and—not to mention—binge-watch BBC period films for inspiration. “If they have a powdered face and a wig on, or if the men are prettier than women, I’m in,” he jokes. —Anne Quito